Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128403
World Supermoto 2006 30 YEAR!> AGO... NOVEMBER 11. '975 Carl Cranke (Pen) made the cover of Issue #44 after winning the 125cc class and finishing fifth overall at the Baja 1000, October 29-31. Gene Can· nady and AI Baker (Hon) won the race overall, finishing with a time of 19 hours, fIVe minutes and 56 seconds... After it appeared as though the event was history, the 17th Hopetown GP took place November 1-2. Jim Holley (Hon) won the loocc Novice class, and Warren Reid (Hon) won the IOOcc Amateur Expert class... Mike Bast Oaw) won the 1975 U.S. National Speedway Championship at the Los Angeles Coliseum on November I. The race was memorable for several reasons, one of them being that it marked the first time a Britishbuilt Weslake engine was used at a National; the bike was ridden by Steve Bast. Another memorable incident came when Jim "The Animal" Fishback crashed and was catapulted into the grandstands. i!0 YEAR!> AGO... NOVEMBER '3. '9B5 November 10, 19B5 marked the 100th anniversary of the motorcycle, and our cover reflected this historic milestone in the sport's history. Inside were three features related to the centennial theme... Terry Cunningham (Hus) won the Baby Burr National Enduro on McArthur, Ohio, on October 20, and a week later he won the series-finale Delaware Enduro on October 27 ... Another Terry, Terry Vance (Suz), swept the Pro Stock Motorcycle field at the 21 st annual Winston World Finals at Pomona Raceway in Pomona, California, on October 20. ra YEAR!> AGO•.. NOVEMBER B, '995 Our potpourri "J.:l:J.:J"':.--~~~- cover gave props to Troy Corser (Due), who won the first leg of the Phillip Island, Australia, round of the World Superbike Championship, on October 29. Anthony Gobert (Kaw) won the second leg... Mick Doohan was also all over Issue #44, as we presented a feature interview with the man himself as well as a racer test of Doohan's Honda NSRSOO Grand Prix machine... Our In the Wind section carried the sad news that Fred Merkel would be forced to retire due to the arm injury he suffered in a crash at the Phoenix AMA Superbike round ... Scott Plessinger (KTM) won the Linnville, Indiana, National Hare Scrambles on October 22, and Ty Davis (Kaw) won the AMA National Hare & Hound in Lucerne Valley, California, on October 22. • The FIM has announced its 2006 World Supermoto Championship schedule. The series is slated to kick off on April 30 in Italy. After nine rounds, the series will conclude in Greece on November 5. The Supermoto World Championship schedule is as follows: April 30 - Italy, Castelletto di Branduzzo May 28 - France, Villars/Ecot June 2S - Austria, Melk July 22 - Italy, Jesolo August 20 - Sweden, Kinnekulle Ring September 10 - Germany, Sankt Wendei October 8 • Monaco, Monte Carlo October IS - Italy, Latina November S - Greece, Athens World Endurance 2006 The 2006 World Endurance Championship calendar has been announced by the FIM, and it includes the two French 24-hour classics - the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Bol d'Or 24 Hour. The seven events include races of four different formats that add up to 9B hours of racing over six months, six countries and two continents. The two classic French 24-hour races rejoin the championship after a four-year absence. The 2006 World Endurance Championship calendar is as follows: April 17 - Holland, Assen Sookm April 22/23 - France, Le Mans 24 Hours May 20 - Spain, Albacete 8 Hour June 18 - Belgium, Zolder 1000km July 30 - Japan, Suzuki 8 Hour August 12/ 13 - Germany, Oschersleben 24 Hour September 16/17 - France, Bol d'Or 24 Hours (Magny-Cours) When Hurricane Wilma rolled through Big Pine Key, Florida. on Sunday, October 23, it damaged more than just property, it also damaged history. For some 25 years, the Big Pine Key has been the winter headquarters of D's Leathers, the place where owner Dee Johnson and her husband, Larry. escape the winter cold while Dee gets down to the business of providing leather motorcycle-racing suits for many of the top stars on the AMA Flat Track circuit. Unfortunately for the Johnsons. they were not spared from the wrath of Wilma, as the huge, wind-driven storm surge destroyed the D's leather shop. "You cannot believe the devastation down here," Dee Johnson said. "We have lost everything, every hide of leather that I have, my sewing machine, everything from 25 years of being down here. And the sad part is that they [Florida officials] aren't telling anyone how bad it is down here because they want the tourists to keep coming." Johnson also said that among the couple's personal effects, her husband's prized 1940 Ford convertible was also destroyed in the deluge. "It was like a tsunami hit us," Johnson said. "The whole thing flooded in less than 10 minutes. and it left our shop in five feet of water. We managed to save our motorhome, and now I'm the only one down here who has a refrigerator and a gas stove, so we have been having about 15 people over for dinner for the past few nights." Johnson said that despite the heavy ioss, none of which is insured, D's Leathers will continue on. Johnson said that she will soon be returning to Ohio, where she can work out of her summer shop and continue to fill orders. "We're alive, and that's something," Johnson said. ''I'm still in business, and I really need the work now," Scott Rousseau • NAMED: Stan Simpson, as the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum's chairman of the board of directors. Simpson. who also serves on the AMA board of directors. was named to the Museum's board earlier this year. He replaces Mark Mendell. who stepped down from the chairman's pOSition to devote more time to his business. Mendell will continue to serve as a member of the board. MOVED: AFC Racing and Parts. to 803 Palos Verdes Street. San Pedro. CA, 310/831-6250. www.afcracing.com. ACCEPTING: Team Hawg Racing is currently accepting racer resumes through the Superbike Championship Manufacturer Cup - Suzuki's first in the IB-year history of the series. Satta, who met with senior managing director Shinzo Nakanishi, managing director Sadayuki Inobe and director Yoshihiko Kakei, said: "First place by Troy Corser and a top-five by Yukio Kagayama led us to the top of the podium in the Manufacturer Championship. We wouldn't have achieved these results without the assistance of Suzuki distributors in Europe. Unlike a prototype MotoGP race machine, Superbikes depend largely on stock parts, and we appreciate that Suzuki has developed a brilliant motorcycle in the GSX-R I000." Inobe said: "We believe that good results in the Superbike class will raise the morale of distributors and dealers and large promotion for sales of market models. I believe we owe much of the current worldwide popularity of GSX-Rs to the great performance of Team Alstare." Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Califomia, will be holding open Supermoto practice once a month, beginning on Monday, November 28, and each month will feature a new track layout. The cost is $40, and the track will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.westcoastsupermoto.com. Wilma Destroys D's Leathers ETC Continued from page " month of November. Resumes can be sent to Team Hawg Racing c/o Race Support. 3333 Sunrise Blvd. Unit I. Rancho Cordova. CA 9S742 or via e-mail to craig@TeamHawgRacing.com. ACCEPTING: K&N Engineering is currently accepting racer resumes for the 2006 season. Resumes will be accepted until November 30. Resumes can be sent to K&N Engineering, Powers ports Division Race Support. 1455 Citrus Street. Riverside. CA 92507. MOVED: Utopia OptiCS, to 2641 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach. CA 90278. 310/536-9944. 310/536-8377 (fax). Kevin Schwantz, Jamie James and Ted Cobb participated in the final round of the Dunlop/WERA National Endurance on October 14 at Road Atlanta, and the team won the four-hour event after completing 127 laps. Schwantz called WERA Motorcycle Roadracing after the event and requested that the team's purse be donated to WERI':s efforts to raise money for Airfence for the Road Atlanta facility. WERA has been putting any money from fines and donations toward the purchase of permanent Air Fence for Road Atlanta. WERA has purchased 20 sections, Road Atlanta has I0 sections deployed by the Roadracing World Action Fund to demonstrate soft-barrier effectiveness, and Road Atlanta is going to match WERA on any purchase they make for the facility. WERA also has purchased a shipping container to store the fence on the property. ':,A,MA Pro Racing and the Roadracing World Action Fund have deployed portable Airfence at our Grand National Finals for the past several years, and we are grateful to have this," said Evelyne Clarke, president of WERA. "WERA would like to see Airfence kept at Road Atlanta that could be used by all motorcycle events at the facility and that would be easier to deploy. Thanks to Hugh Fleming of the AMA for his hard work in getting their fence up for us, and we hope one day to make his job easier with the permanent barriers. Thanks to Kevin and his team for their generous donation, and we will put it toward another section of fence for Road Atlanta. Our goal is to get Road Atlanta done and move on to another facility on our venue [circuit] that could use permanent Airfence." Anyone wishing to donate to the Road Atlanta Air Fence Project can do so through WERA Motorcycle Roadracing or through the Roadracing World Action Fund by designating donations as being for soft barriers deployed at WERA events. For more information, call WERA at 770/720-50 IO. CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 9, 2005 13